Three letters to the bishop of Bangor

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My LORD,

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So that your Lordship may be prepared to receive what I take the liberty of presenting to you with greater openness original: "Candor", I sincerely declare that it does not proceed from any prejudice. Instead, it arises from certain reasons that have firmly convinced me original: "invincibly obliged" that I must disagree with your Lordship’s opinion.

To prevent any suspicion that I intend to harm your Lordship’s character in this address, I have included my name—which I might otherwise have chosen to keep hidden—at the beginning of it.

Your Lordship is seen as the leader of a cause where every opponent is certain to be insulted as either a fanatical Jacobite a supporter of the exiled King James II and his descendants, a Catholic bigot original: "Popish Bigot", or an enemy to the liberty of his country and the Protestant cause. These harsh labels are to be expected, my Lord, from a group of men who dishonor your Lordship with their excessive flattery original: "Panegyricks" of your work—men whose praises actually stain the character they intend to celebrate.